Vignetting update

[Tim Le]

Heard on another forum:


"Since the launch in November, the PMW-EX1 has been received extremely well within the market with a huge level of order commitments and very positive feedback from customers using the product.

Sony regrets to inform you that there have been a small number of reports of a specific lens issue with the camera, which upon further investigation by our engineering team, has been identified as ‘unbalanced light falloff’ at the edge of the picture. The cause of this has been identified as being a result of a mis-alignment of the center of the lens and the light axis. Sony takes such technical matters very seriously and although this issue has only been seen on a very small percentage of the units supplied worldwide, Sony has implemented a full review and modification of the manufacturing process in order to alleviate any re-occurrence of this issue.

Sony will re-align any camera exhibiting the symptom described above at no charge to you at the highest priority. If your camcorder exhibits the symptom described please call our Product Operational Support Center at 1-800-883-6817, option 2-5-2 for advice on how to proceed."

Source: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=792389&postcount=294

[myCharlie]

Nice to hear but, can anyone post a footage or still grab that shows this problem so that we know exactly what to look for when we get our camera?

[Barry_Green]

SteveT's outlined the procedures over on DVInfo; hopefully he'll spell 'em out here or provide a link to the relevant posts on DVInfo.

[Stevet]

Thanks Barry,


Here's a general setup to determine if your PMW-EX1 camera has the vignette issue:

1. Set the EX1 for FULL manual control.

2. Set the cameras focus at infinity. (furthest focus range).
This setting was mentioned by several who mentioned the vignette seemed worse.

3. Position your camera on a tripod with "Steady Shot" OFF (OIS OFF).

4. Aim your camera on a white or neutral color wall (not black).

5. Start with camera at full wide (5.8mm) and zoom all the way in and verify
no objects come into your view throughout the zoom travel.

6. Do not over expose the image. Actually intentionally under expose the
image.

7. Now with your camera set to wide 5.8mm focal length, start recording.

8. While recording SLOWLY zoom up to 40mm. The problem is known to be
seen in the 10mm - 25mm range. So SLOWY zoom through this focal
range.

9. Import your footage into your computer and look for the vignetting issue.
IMPORTANT: When viewed on a monitor while recording, you may not see
the issue due to the monitors overscan. View your captured footage on your computer.

Using SDI will also allow you to view the entire 1:1 image.

Please ignore poor image quality, white balance, focus, etc... The image below is to show the
vignetting issue.

BTW, Sony is now addressing this issue with quality control and stated it's an easy adjustment.


http://members.cox.net/vx2000/vignetting_1.jpg

[Stevet]

For whatever it's worth, I have not tried this information just in from another forum.

PLEASE : If you do this, YOU DO it at YOUR OWN RISK! This is NOT MY procedure.

>>>
I am working outside of the US right now and stopped by a Sony dealer as part of my worldwide search for extra EX1 batteries (I found them).

The dealer gave me an interesting tidbit of information that I thought I would share. I do not have my EX1 with me, so I can't try it myself, but I will upon my return.

That said, please try this at your own risk. It doesn't seem like something that could void a warranty or screw anything up too badly, but I really don't know.

The dealer said that if you adjust the backfocus of the camera, the vignetting problem goes away (this is the part I take with a grain of salt). I told him I did not know how to adjust the backfocus, and he gave me instructions to do so that he received from Sony. It involves going to the hidden maintenance menu - here are the instructions:

1) Press and hold the "CANCEL" "SEL/SET" and "MENU" buttons simultaneously. The back focus is the bottom item in the Maintenance menu.

2) Point the camera at a back focus chart with the camera about 12' away from the chart.

3) Zoom in and focus.

4) Select "Auto FB Adjust"

5) Select "Execute"

6) The camera will zoom in and out and do an Auto Back Focus correction.

(end of instructions)

I don't know which way the focus ring needs to be set (it may not matter) but it seems that zoom servo will need to be engaged in order for the camera to take control of the zoom.

Again, try at your own risk (other maintenance menu items may cause problems if you mess with them) but if you try it, tell us how it goes. I'll give it a go in a week or so when I am reunited with my camera.
<<<

If this is a fix, it sure seems odd.
Especally since this should be set at the factory.
Also, on top of that, it surely doesn't appear the camera's back focus is off.

I read another message that stated he heard from Sony that the lens centering was slightly off from the opitcal axis and there was an adjustment.
This seems to make more sense.

[Barry_S]

I understand that Sony is offering to recalibrate cameras to fix the problem, but I'd love to hear if this procedure really fixes the problem. Please report back with the results if Sony has serviced your camera for the vignetting problem.

[buhce]

For whatever it's worth, I have not tried this information just in from another forum.

PLEASE : If you do this, YOU DO it at YOUR OWN RISK! This is NOT MY procedure.

>>>
I am working outside of the US right now and stopped by a Sony dealer as part of my worldwide search for extra EX1 batteries (I found them).

The dealer gave me an interesting tidbit of information that I thought I would share. I do not have my EX1 with me, so I can't try it myself, but I will upon my return.

That said, please try this at your own risk. It doesn't seem like something that could void a warranty or screw anything up too badly, but I really don't know.

The dealer said that if you adjust the backfocus of the camera, the vignetting problem goes away (this is the part I take with a grain of salt). I told him I did not know how to adjust the backfocus, and he gave me instructions to do so that he received from Sony. It involves going to the hidden maintenance menu - here are the instructions:

1) Press and hold the "CANCEL" "SEL/SET" and "MENU" buttons simultaneously. The back focus is the bottom item in the Maintenance menu.

2) Point the camera at a back focus chart with the camera about 12' away from the chart.

3) Zoom in and focus.

4) Select "Auto FB Adjust"

5) Select "Execute"

6) The camera will zoom in and out and do an Auto Back Focus correction.

(end of instructions)

I don't know which way the focus ring needs to be set (it may not matter) but it seems that zoom servo will need to be engaged in order for the camera to take control of the zoom.

Again, try at your own risk (other maintenance menu items may cause problems if you mess with them) but if you try it, tell us how it goes. I'll give it a go in a week or so when I am reunited with my camera.
<<<

If this is a fix, it sure seems odd.
Especally since this should be set at the factory.
Also, on top of that, it surely doesn't appear the camera's back focus is off.

I read another message that stated he heard from Sony that the lens centering was slightly off from the opitcal axis and there was an adjustment.
This seems to make more sense.


Sorry for rehashing this old thread, but I was wondering if this procedure actually worked?l